Railroad switching device.



No. 882,707. PATENTED MAR. 24, 1908. R. R. MILLER.

RAILROAD SWITCHING DEVICE.

APPLIGATION FILED MAR. 15, 1907.

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PATENTED MAR. 24, 1908.

' R. R.MILLER.

RAILROAD SWITCHING DEVICE.

APPLICATION TILED MAR. 5, 1907.

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ROYAL RUEBEN MILLER, OF PUEBLO, COLORADO.

RAILROAD SWITCHING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 5, 1907.

Patented March 24, 1908.

Serial No. 360,732.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROYAL RUEBEN MIL- LER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pueblo, in the county of Pueblo and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad Switching Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in railroad switching devices in which a switch tongue, or tongues, are moved by means of hermetically sealed levers that are operated by a single switch dog and a single s ringcontrolled switch rod, to open or c ose a switch; and in which the switching mechanism is held from rebounding when operated quickly, by springs that are hermetically sealed; and the objects of my invention are, first, to supply a switching device that may readily be sealed up to effectually keep water or dust out of its parts and to retain oil therein; and second, to supply a cheap switching device that may be applied on curves or straight tracks; and third, to provide a switching device that has but one lever exposed above the roadbed, and has but one switching rod attached to a car, by which to operate it; and fourth, to provide a switch operating device to be mounted upon a car, that is adaptable to accommodate itself to all the movements of the car. I attain these objects by the, mechanisms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my switching device mounted between the rails of a street car track showing the switch boxes in broken section permitting a view of the switch levers; Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section through the switch box upon which the switch dog is mounted; Fig. 3 is a perspective view in cross section taken lengthwise through the switch tongue showing manner of connecting the switching arm; Fig. 4 is a side elevation, in broken section of the front end of a street car with my switch rod mechanism mounted thereon; and. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of my switch rod mech anism removed from the car.

Similar numbers refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The spear shaped dog 1 is mounted on top of switch box 6 and is held in place by bolt 3. The said dog engages the square portion 2 of shaft 2 which passes down into the box 6 through a suitable packing box 20; the

round portion 2 forming a smooth surface around which to apply the ordinary packing used for piston rods; the square portion of shaft 2 below the aforesaid round portion passes through and engages the lever 4 and the small round portion 2 enters a suitable hole in the bottom of the box, forming a suitable support about which lever 4 is operated.

In the boxes 6 and 15 is screwed the single pipe 7 forming a conduit through which the wires 8 and 9 are passed and by it the number of joints to be made air tight are re duced to a practical minimum. The said wires are attached at the ends of lever 10 in box 15 which is pivotally connected, near its center, by a pin 11, to the bottom of the box and has an arm in which an elongated hole 17 is formed to take a pin on the union 12, the latter being screw connected to switch-arm 13. The switch-arm passes out through a suitable packing box 16 to the switch tongue 18 in which the elongated hole 19 is formed to take the upturned portion of switch-arm 13. The switch-arm 1s slidable through a suitable hole in guide lug 14 and moves in a straight line so as not to bind in packing box 16 in which any well known packin is applied, as in any well known device for packing iston rods. The springs 5 serve to-assist in tlirowing the switch and to hold it from rebounding when it is thrown, since they are each securely fastened by one of their ends to lugs in the box 6 in such manner as to engage the lever 4 and to assist it in either direction it is moved by the dog 1 after it has assed the center; i. e., after the lever 4 has con moved by dog 1 till it has passed the point where each spring is pressmg exactly opposite the other, whereupon each spring wi l assist in moving lever 4 on in the direction the dog 1 started it until the switch tongue is moved to the uard rail or track rail, the same being the limit for its movement; and after being moved in one direction the springs will perform the same function to assist in moving the lever 4 back in the opposite position when dog 1 is moved in an opposite irection as hereinafter more fully set forth.

The switch boxes that are screwed on the ends of pipe 7 are securely fastened to the cross ties of the railroad by screws, in the center of the road, or in such manner that the center of bolt 3 of dog 1, is in the center of the Cir track, in which osition the switch rod hereinafter describec that is carried by the car, will properly engage the do 1 whether the car is moving forward or bac (ward.

The switch rod mechanism consists of a bent rod 22 which passes up through suitable holes in casting 21, the latter being so formed as to be applicable to the truck frame of a street car as shown in Fig. 4, the bolt 24 serving to clamp the casting tightly thereto. The collar 26 is held tightly to rod 22 by set screw 28 to which one end of the coil spring 25 is attached the other end of the spring being attached by set screw 27 to casting 21, thus applying spring 25 in such manner as to cause it to perform two functions, the first being to hold switch rod 22 up free from the track and the second function is to return the lower bent portion, after it has been moved sidewise in the operation of moving dog 1, to a position so the rearmost and lower portion will be over the center of the track, more fully described below.

The casting 21, rod 22 and spring 25 are carried by the truck frame and are attached to the same in such manner as to cause rod 22 to be over the middle of the track. The curved channel 29. which is attached to the forged lever 30 at its two fork-like prongs, is curved about a center equal to the center of the king bolt of the truck on which casting 21 is fastened, and a radius equal to the center of switch rod 22 in such manner that any circular movement of the truck will cause the rod 22 to move along under channel 29 since channel 29 and lever 30 are carried by the car. In the elbow block 32, which is securely fastened to the bottom of the car, is pivotally applied lever 30, which passes through a suitable elongated slot in guide block 31 which is also securely fastened to the bottom of the car, all in such a position as to bring channel 29 in proper relation with rod 22 so that any circular movement of the car truck about its king bolt will move said rod 22 along under the said channel in such manner as not to bind.

The button rod 33 sets astride of lever 30 and extends up through the bottom of the car conveniently near the foot of a motorman; and to operate the switch mechanism herein described a motorman presses down on button rod 33 whereupon switch rod 22 is pressed downward by means of lever 30, to engagement with one of the sides of dog 1, and in passing said dog said switch rod moves sidewise enough to clear dog 1 at its center, or opposite bolt 3, and presses against one of the out-turned ends thereof causing it to move and let rod 22 pass, whereupon the switch tongue is moved by means of levers 4 and 10 and rods 8 and 9 and dog 1 is left in position to be switched in an opposite direction by the next car, since the pointed end of the dog is moved to the other side of the center of the track so the opposite outturned side of the dog is in position to be engaged by rod 22 in exactly the same manner as just described, the spring 25 serving to return the backwardly bent and lowest portion of rod 22 to a position directly over the center of the track and also to raise same free from the track. Thus it may be seen that by means of a spear shaped dog having outturned sides that when one side is moved to ward the center of the track the other moves away from the center of the track and the pointed end moves to the opposite side of the center of the track in such manner that it will guide rod 22 along the opposite side and move the dog by means of the other outturne end toward the center of the track in position to again be moved as first described. By this operation the switch tongue is moved in either direction and by one switch dog 1 and one switch rod 22. It should further be especially noted that by means of a curved channel 29 forming a track in which rod 22 may move when the car truck is moved circularly about its king bolt, as it is in passing a curve, that the rod 22 is always in position to be moved downward to engage the dog 1 either on a curve or straight track.

By means of boxes 6 and 15 and the single pipe 7 my switching device may be sealed hermetically, there being only dog 1 and a small portion of arm 13 exposed, both of which pass through suitable packing boxes, leaving no inclosures in which foreign substances may collect that might hinder its operation; and by bending pipe 7 the device may be applied to a curve since wires 8 and 9 may be flexible and thereby reduce their friction to a practical minimum.

The boxes 6 and 15 are made of suitably strong material to safely withstand the weight of loaded wagons or other heavy vehicles, and dog 1 is made of plate metal of suitable thickness so that bicycles or other vehicles may pass over it without injury.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a railroad switching device, the combination with hermetically scalable switch boxes connected by a pipe, and Wire connected levers, of a spear shaped dog 1 attached to a shaft pivotally connected in a switch box in such manner that said dog will serve to engage a single switch rod, or arm, subtended from a car truck, on both of its sides to be operative to move switch levers in either horizontal direction, substantially as described.

2. In a railroad switching device the com- 1 left to right, by a single switching rod or arm, subtended from the truck frame of a car, of a pair of springs engaging opposite ends of one of the switch levers in such manner as to press the said lever to the extreme limit of its movements, substantially as set forth.

3. In a railroad switching device the combination with hermetically scalable switch boxes connected by a pipe, wire connected levers and a single spear shaped switching dog, of a switching rod, carried by a casting mounted on the truck frame of a car, a coil spring attached to said rod and casting in such manner as to return said red, by the torsional action of said spring, to a central position over the railroad track after'said rod passes along either side of said dog, substantially as described.

4. In a railroad switching device the combination with hermetically scalable switch boxes connected by a pipe, wire connected levers, a single spear shaped switching dog 1, a switching arm 13 and a spring controlled switching rod 22, of a lever having a guide channel means of accommodating the movements of rod 22 along and under the same, substantially as described.

ROYAL RUEBEN MILLER.

Witnesses:

JoHN W. RING, N. F. GoonsPEEn. 

